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Pats give the boot to Brandon Meriweather


F.Chowds

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Two straight Pro Bowls and 64 appearances in 64 career games ultimately wasn’t enough to save safetyBrandon Meriweather. The Patriots have parted ways with the first-round pick from the 2007 draft, according to a league source.

Meriweather’s status had been the subject of rumor and speculation. He recently downplayed to our good buddy Tom Curran of CSNNE.com the fact that coach Bill Belichick had Meriweather playing during garbage time of the preseason finale.

Meriweather, notorious during his time in college for a stomping incident during an on-field brouhaha, was implicated in an offseason shooting. He eventually was cleared by authorities. Last October, he was fined $50,000 for launching head first into Ravens tight end Todd Heap. The fine later was reduced to $40,000.

A four-year veteran, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

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This is a kid that has been through a lot. His mother was very young when she had him, that is very rough. I don't see the Jets taking a shot on him, not since Belichick didn't seem to like his level of discipline.

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This is a kid that has been through a lot. His mother was very young when she had him, that is very rough. I don't see the Jets taking a shot on him, not since Belichick didn't seem to like his level of discipline.

he's a dirty player Max-not worth the 3 15 yard penalties he'll be charged with for continuing his helmet to helmet torpedo tackling technique

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Thought they made a mistake benching him so much this preseason, might have been able to get a late pick for him at least, but then again playing someone who's not going to be there in hopes of gaining an extra 6th or 7th rounder probably isn't worth it anyway. Meriweather's a freelancer who kind of just wants to do his own thing, turned out being an awful fit for a confined system like Belichick's. I don't see where he'd fit in on this defense at all. His technique is putrid, makes way too many boneheaded plays, and he's pretty bad when it comes to missed tackles. There's also the off-the-field nonsense, which the Jets certainly don't need any more of. He does, however, do some things very well on the field and someone will pick him up. Just won't be Rex.

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Thought they made a mistake benching him so much this preseason, might have been able to get a late pick for him at least, but then again playing someone who's not going to be there in hopes of gaining an extra 6th or 7th rounder probably isn't worth it anyway. Meriweather's a freelancer who kind of just wants to do his own thing, turned out being an awful fit for a confined system like Belichick's. I don't see where he'd fit in on this defense at all. His technique is putrid, makes way too many boneheaded plays, and he's pretty bad when it comes to missed tackles. There's also the off-the-field nonsense, which the Jets certainly don't need any more of. He does, however, do some things very well on the field and someone will pick him up. Just won't be Rex.

yeah but you're omitting the part where he's actually better than any safety the Jets currently have on their roster.

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Meh, not really. At least not to the degree where it's worth wasting the time to find out.

Honestly I find Safeties to be one of the hardest positions to judge in the NFL. They have so many reads even after the ball is snapped and to be honest I won't sit here and claim to be a Pats guru. I will say I probably watch 5-6 games a year (including the 2 against the Jets). I don't think Leonhard and Smith hurt us as bad as some want to say and I don't think Merriweather is the "top flight" upgrade some of us are looking for, BUT I would consider him a huge upgrade to the unit/secondary as a whole. Add him in with Pool (JL and Smith) and that is a nice dynamic group of Safeties. I also think he eventually ends up starting by week 7. If not, either way, based on talent alone he's worth bringing in.

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Honestly I find Safeties to be one of the hardest positions to judge in the NFL. They have so many reads even after the ball is snapped and to be honest I won't sit here and claim to be a Pats guru. I will say I probably watch 5-6 games a year (including the 2 against the Jets). I don't think Leonhard and Smith hurt us as bad as some want to say and I don't think Merriweather is the "top flight" upgrade some of us are looking for, BUT I would consider him a huge upgrade to the unit/secondary as a whole. Add him in with Pool (JL and Smith) and that is a nice dynamic group of Safeties. I also think he eventually ends up starting by week 7. If not, either way, based on talent alone he's worth bringing in.

Meriweather isn't a poor player, he's just careless on the field and an idiot off of it. For a team that experienced problems with missed tackles in getting to the Super Bowl, there's no point in adding a guy who ranks right up with the worst in the league in that category. I'm not so sure he'd make this particular team better from any standpoint aside from safety depth, which isn't even worth it given his baggage.

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Tate is a better #5 than anyone on the Jets. However I don't know if he can play STs besides return.

Probably not hence him getting waived

but their #5 WR won't make the team because of his pass catching abilty-he will make the team as Westhoff's gunner

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Merriweather to the Raiders or Cowboys seems like a natural fit.

That being said, the guy is physically gifted, but tended to freelance and play more aggressively than BB wanted. This was compounded by taking bad angles and having poor tackling form. However his aggressive play meant that he would at times lay some good licks, and in a weak AFC safety field, he kept getting pro bowl spots that he didn't deserve. The drop off to Sergio Brown will not be as great as some would hope, but that says less about Brown than it does about my opinion of Merriweather in the Patriots defense.

The Tate cut is completely unsurprising. He was not developing as a WR, and Price has clearly already surpassed him in that department. Edelman and Slater are both better all around STers, as both play on coverage teams. Tate only returns kicks, and even that he wasn't accomplishing as well this preseason (probably primarily due to the new rules, but even then, other guys were doing better jobs than he, facing the same kicking rules).

I'd say Brandon's cut was surprising only in the sense that I don't have a strong feeling on the safety depth now that both Sanders and Merriweather are both cut.

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